Regional Co-ordinator - Geoffrey Cox
Geoffrey is the Managing Director of Southern Healthcare (inc. 2001) which, with a great team, proudly runs 4 Devon Nursing Homes, ‘The Old Rectory’ Exeter, ‘Parkwood House’ Plymouth, ‘The Seaton’ and ‘Sefton Hall’ in Dawlish.
Prior to a career in Residential Care, Geoffrey was a practising Solicitor for 25 years. He is married to Margot, a qualified Nurse who has a key role as Director of Nursing and Compliance with Southern Healthcare.
In 2008, Geoffrey became a Board member of the Registered Nursing Homes Assn and instigated formation of the Devon Care Providers Association which with others lobbied for Provider concerns. In 2009 he became a Provider representative to Devon County Council and to Devon Safeguarding Adults Board. In 2011, with a small group of Providers, he became a member of a group which initiated 2 Judicial Reviews upon funding matters in Devon both in 2011 and 2012, which was a substantial and succesful undertaking.
After such matters settled positively, in 2012, he became the co chair and with Margot, became steering group members of the newly formed ‘Devon Care Kite Mark’ group. The Kite Mark group, which is a collaborative, exists to share and promote best practice, run Management and Leadership training, seminars and its members undertake inter Home ‘peer reviews’ to share, discuss and develop best practice. Of circa 240 Homes, Devon has circa 33 Outstanding Care Homes, the highest ratio of Outstanding Homes in England.
The shared vision of the collaborative, through its various endeavours has made a recognisable difference to Residents quality of life in its member Homes and this work has been growing steadily in scale and impact. In 2020, with the impact of the pandemic it became a key instigator of the wider and newly formed Devon Care Homes Collaborative, in which circa 300 Providers have reached out to provide inter Home practical support and to collaborate constructively with commissioning and other authorities with great effect.
Geoffrey completed a Masters degree in Dementia studies at Stirling University in 2013 and has run circa 10 Devon Care conferences since 2011, which have been growing in impact each year, with significant key speakers.
The Old Rectory, Sefton Hall, Parkwood House and the Seaton, had all been rated Outstanding by CQC following the latest Inspections in 2017/18/19, with Sefton Hall re rated Outstanding, and the Old Rectory Good overall and Outstanding in responsive care, in 2020. Sefton Hall and the Old Rectory hold the Dementia Care Matters ‘Butterfly’ Mark for excellence in Dementia care and is continuing with its 2 new programme in 2021.
The Homes have attained a number of regional and national awards including Care Home of the year 2019 at Sefton Hall.
All 4 Homes are accredited Homes implementing the philosophy of the US ‘Eden Alternative’. Geoffrey and his wife Margot, are keen and enthusiastic trainers and board members of the Eden Alternative UK, a not for profit CIC, developed to eradicate loneliness, helplessness and boredom in care settings. The movement trains and promotes wellbeing in staff, residents and families, takes a strong anti ageist stance and promotes empowerment, inclusion and effective leadership. There are circa 2,000 Eden trained staff in the UK, many thousands globally and the movement is still growing in 20 countries.
March 2021
